This invention relates to apparatus for cutting sheet material, such as fabric for making clothing or upholstery, and deals more particularly with a cutting machine having combined with it a take-off table for supporting material already cut by the cutting machine so as to permit a quantity of cut work material to be moved to the take-off table for the step, for example, of separating the desired cut pieces from the waste, while another quantity of work material is cut by the cutting machine.
The apparatus of this invention has particular utility in garment cutting rooms where a single automatically controlled cutting machine is used in combination with a number of spreading tables onto which lay-ups of sheet material are spread preparatory to their being cut. When one spreading table has a lay-up ready for cutting the cutting machine is moved to it, and the lay-up is shifted from it to the cutting machine, either all at once or progressively depending on the length of the lay-up, for cutting by the cutting machine. After the cutting of that lay-up is finished and the cut lay-up is conveyed off the cutting table the cutting machine is moved to another spreading table having another lay-up ready for cutting. Thereafter such process is continually repeated with the cutting machine moving from one spreading table to another in accordance with some production schedule.
In the above described cutting procedure it is also known to use take-off tables with the cutting machine to hold the sheet material after it has been cut by the cutter and while subsequent handling of it takes place such as the separation of desired cut pieces from the waste material and the delivery of the cut pieces and the waste material to different destinations.
In the past the take-off tables have often been separate from the cutting machines and have essentially been stand alone units having their own motors and control devices. Therefore, each time the cutting machine is moved to a new spreading table it has been necessary to spend some effort and time in associating the cutting machine with a take-away table at the new location.
A drawback in permanently combining a cutting machine with a take-off table is that the combination has a relatively long length and many cutting rooms have closely spaced structural pillars or posts making it difficult to move such a long apparatus from one location to another.
The general object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a combined cutting machine and take-off table wherein the take-off table is permanently connected with the cutting machine making it unnecessary to disconnect and reconnect the cutting machine to a take-off table each time it is moved to a new location on the cutting room floor.
A further object of the invention is to provide a combined cutting machine and take-off table wherein the take-off table is movable between a deployed and a stowed position relative to the cutting machine with the combined apparatus in the stowed position of the take-off table having a substantially shorter length then it does when the take-off table is in its deployed position, thereby permitting the combined apparatus to be more easily moved from one spot to another.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a combined cutting machine and take-off table as defined in the preceding paragraph wherein the take-off table in its stowed position is vertically inclined relative to the cutting machine and wherein in the stowed position of the take-off table one of its ends is in a lower position than it is in the deployed position of the take-off table to reduce the overall height of the apparatus when the take-off table is stowed in comparison to the overall height it would have if such lowering of one end did not occur.
Other advantages and objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and appended claims.